According to a new study, DeWine has his work cut out for himself when it comes to making that happen.
Last week, Survival At Home conducted a study to determine which states are the most -- and least -- cooperative when it comes to wearing a mask. Ohio, for its part, ranked as the ninth least cooperative state, with the top 10 states of anti-mask wearing activity:
- Arizona
- Nevada
- Florida
- Idaho
- Maine
- Missouri
- Wyoming
- South Carolina
- Ohio
- Montana
According to USA Today, the study was conducted by compiling more than 150,000 geotagged Twitter posts that referenced popular hashtags like "#nomask," "#burnyourmask" and "#iwillnotcomply" over the last 30 days. In that span, Ohio has seen its coronavirus cases and trends rise, with DeWine warning that the Buckeye State could soon see numbers similar to Florida and Arizona if it doesn't reverse its trends.
While not mandatory across the state, masks in Ohio are required in counties that have reached the third level of the state's coronavirus risk level. As of last week, 19 counties in Ohio meet that criteria, which means that 60 percent of the state is currently required to wear masks when in public.
Appearing on Meet The Press on Sunday, DeWine said that more health orders are expected in the coming days. He also didn't rule out the possibility of enacting a statewide mask mandate.
"We’re at a crucial time," DeWine said. "And so this week you may see a lot more counties under that mask requirement, so we certainly would not rule out going statewide. We’re certainly looking at that, but there’s a lot of things going on."